We Have The D-League For a Reason

The D-League was meant to develop players hence the name D-League. The thing that I don’t understand though is instead of developing young players in the D-league, NBA teams decide to play them in their rookie season for 15 minutes a game and expect them to become all star talent.

The current view on the D-league is that it is a demotion and that view is completely inaccurate. The D-league gives players such as Derrick Favors of the New Jersey Nets a chance to shine and develop into spectacular players. The NBA only has a few players who have the complete package such as Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Dwyane Wade as stated in my last article. There is a way to create more players with this level of talent, send all rookies that aren’t yet polished NBA players to the D-League for a couple months and then marvel at the results.

First lets take a look at what I mean by “a polished NBA player”. A polished NBA player is one who has no problem at all playing their role in the league. This is very rare for a rookie player and only happens for 3-5 players a season, examples being Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin, and Tyreke Evans. If a player isn’t in the running for Rookie of the Year, they are not yet a polished NBA player. Then you have to acknowledge those players who have shown that they are ready for NBA level competition but have not put up amazing stats such as Derrick Favors of the New Jersey Nets. Although it might be a good idea to keep these kinds of players in the NBA for a while to familiarize them with the high level of competition, they should still be sent to the D-League for a brief time period. This time period should be about 3 weeks. The reason for this would be that success is something that must be learned, it does not happen instantly. If a player has average stats in the NBA, they should have phenomenal stats in the D-League. Entrusting them with a higher level of responsiblity and a larger role on a team is extremely beneficial. In the D-League, they can learn good judgement, good decision making, and most importantly how to excel in the sport of basketball.

The D-League is a resource that is currently underused. Instead of sending old players who have reached the end of their careers to the D-League, it should be a facility meant for honing young talent.